A former Syrian colonel living in the UK can be named for the first time after he appeared in court accused of murder as a crime against humanity.
Salem Michel Al-Salem, 58, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court by video-link. He was sitting in an armchair and wearing an oxygen mask and breathing tube, next to an interpreter who assisted him throughout the hearing.
The Syrian national faces a total of seven charges in connection with his time serving as part of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence (SAFI) in the first prosecution of its kind.
They include three counts of murder as a crime against humanity in April and July 2022, while he was leading a group that attempted to put an end to demonstrations in the village of Jobar, near Damascus.
According to the charges, he was allegedly responsible, together with others, for killing three people “as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population with knowledge of the attack”.
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Al-Salam is also charged with three counts of torture between 1 August and 30 September 2011, and one charge of conduct ancillary to murder on 22 April 2011.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it is the first time charges of murder as crimes against humanity under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 have been brought.
Al-Salam, who lives in Buckinghamshire, was arrested in December 2021 after an investigation was launched by the Counter Terrorism Policing’s war crimes unit after officers received a referral in November 2020.
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The court heard he suffers from motor neurone disease, and he was not asked to identify himself or enter pleas to any of the charges.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring sent the case to the Old Bailey and granted Al-Salam conditional bail ahead of the next hearing on Friday.
